Te Matatini

Te Matatini is New Zealand’s principal national festival and competition for kapa haka, the Māori performing-arts tradition that combines singing, chanting, dance, movement, rhetoric, and collective presentation. It brings together groups from across New Zealand and Australia and gives them a national stage on which to express Māori language, identity, history, tribal affiliations, values, and contemporary concerns. The name Te Matatini was coined by Professor Wharehuia Milroy. It combines mata, meaning “face,” with tini, meaning “many,” and is commonly interpreted as “the many faces.” The name reflects the festival’s representation of the many iwi, communities, regions, styles, and perspectives that make up Māori cultural life. The festival’s institutional origins reach back to the late 1960s. The Te Matatini Society, in its current form, was established in 1972 and became the continuing organisational force behind the national event. Its role has extended beyond staging a competition: the society has supported the long-term development of Māori performing arts and has been associated with a range of Māori and Polynesian cultural festivals and events. Te Matatini is held every two years, with the host location changing between regions. Hosting is connected to the transfer of mana, or authority and responsibility, to an iwi or regional organising body. That arrangement places the festival within a Māori framework of cultural stewardship rather than treating it solely as a touring entertainment property. Host communities are responsible for welcoming performers and audiences, presenting the region, and carrying the obligations associated with exercising mana. The competition is organised around disciplined kapa haka performance. Groups perform a bracket lasting approximately 25 minutes and are assessed by expert judges appointed from around New Zealand. The required performance forms include whakaeke, a choreographed entry; mōteatea, a traditional chant; poi; waiata-ā-ringa, or action song; haka; and whakawātea, the exit item. The programme also includes aggregate and non-aggregate disciplines, with awards presented for individual areas of achievement and for overall performance. The principal overall award is the toa whakaihuwaka taonga. It is determined by scores from the final competition day, known as Te Matangirua, and identifies the first-, second-, and third-placed groups. The festival therefore combines artistic expression, formal judging, regional representation, and the transmission of Māori performance knowledge. Te Matatini’s cultural significance extends beyond the competition results. Kapa haka is a major vehicle for Māori identity and contributes to New Zealand’s distinctive cultural profile. The event supports the visibility of te reo Māori, intergenerational participation, collective discipline, and relationships between iwi and communities. Although its primary base is New Zealand, the competition also accommodates performers from Australia, reflecting the wider Māori community across the Tasman. The 2025 festival was held from 25 February to 1 March at the Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth. It was hosted by Te Kāhui Maunga, representing the Taranaki and Whanganui regional authority. Te Matatini remains an active biennial cultural institution whose central proposition is the national celebration and competitive presentation of Māori performing arts.

Te Matatini developed from the growth of national Māori performing-arts gatherings in the late 1960s. Its institutional foundation is associated with the Te Matatini Society, which was established in its current form in 1972. The society provided a durable organisational structure for a national event centred on kapa haka and also supported other Māori and Polynesian festivals and cultural activities. The festival’s identity is grounded in kapa haka. Rather than presenting a single fixed style, Te Matatini brings together groups representing different iwi, regions, communities, and artistic traditions. Its name, attributed to Professor Wharehuia Milroy, expresses this breadth: mata refers to a face and tini to many, producing the sense of “the many faces.” The title therefore describes both the diversity of the participating communities and the many forms through which Māori identity can be performed. Te Matatini is staged biennially and moves between regions of New Zealand. The host arrangement is expressed through the granting of mana to an iwi or regional authority. In this context, hosting carries cultural obligations and responsibilities. The host region is not simply a venue provider; it receives authority to welcome the national kapa haka community and to deliver the event in accordance with the expectations attached to that responsibility. Over time, the festival has become a major platform for Māori language, performance, cultural knowledge, and collective identity. It also provides a setting in which kapa haka groups can be judged against shared standards while retaining their distinctive regional and tribal voices. Performances are constructed as approximately 25-minute brackets and incorporate a range of disciplines, including choreographed entry, traditional chant, poi, action song, haka, and exit performance. Expert judges appointed from around New Zealand assess the groups across compulsory and non-compulsory areas. The awards system recognises both individual disciplines and overall achievement. Taonga are awarded to the highest-scoring teams in the relevant pool-round categories. The overall championship, the toa whakaihuwaka, is based on the final-day results from Te Matangirua and also establishes the leading three teams. The festival’s importance is cultural as well as competitive. Kapa haka functions as a form of Māori identity and helps sustain collective knowledge, language, movement, music, and historical expression. Te Matatini also contributes to the distinctiveness of New Zealand’s cultural presentation by placing Māori performance at the centre of a large national gathering. The event includes participation from New Zealand and Australia, reflecting the geographical reach of Māori communities. Its changing regional location reinforces relationships among iwi and communities while allowing different host regions to present their own histories and cultural character. The 2017 festival, for example, was associated with Te Whanganui-a-Tara and the Ngāti Kahungunu, Heretaunga region. The 2025 competition was held at the Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth from 25 February to 1 March. It was hosted by Te Kāhui Maunga, representing the Taranaki and Whanganui regional authority. Te Matatini continues as an active biennial institution dedicated to the development, celebration, and national presentation of Māori performing arts.

• 2025

  Te Matatini 2025 held in New Plymouth

  [1]Te Matatinien.wikipedia.org

  The national kapa haka competition took place at the Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth from 25 February to 1 March, hosted by Te Kāhui Maunga for the Taranaki and Whanganui regional authority.

• 2017

  Mana granted to the Te Whanganui-a-Tara host region

  [1]Te Matatinien.wikipedia.org

  The festival’s hosting authority, or mana, was granted to Te Whanganui-a-Tara on behalf of the Ngāti Kahungunu, Heretaunga region.

• 1972

  Te Matatini Society established in its current form

  [1]Te Matatinien.wikipedia.org

  The Te Matatini Society was established in its present form and became the organisational force supporting the national kapa haka festival and the longer-term development of Māori performing arts.

• 1960

  National Māori performing-arts movement emerges

  [1]Te Matatinien.wikipedia.org

  The festival’s institutional and cultural origins are traced to the late 1960s, when national Māori performing-arts gatherings began developing into a continuing movement.

A nationally significant Māori cultural institution that combines a high-level kapa haka competition with cultural celebration, intergenerational knowledge transmission, and regional Māori identity.

• Cultural festival

  Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival

  The core biennial event brings kapa haka groups from New Zealand and Australia together for a multi-day national festival and competition. It combines formal judging with public performances and cultural gathering, and moves between host regions under an iwi-based mana arrangement.

• Performing-arts competition

  Kapa haka competition

  Participating groups present an approximately 25-minute bracket incorporating whakaeke, mōteatea, poi, waiata-ā-ringa, haka, and whakawātea. Expert judges assess compulsory and non-compulsory disciplines, with taonga awarded for category performance and overall achievement.

• Festival final

  Te Matangirua

  Te Matangirua is the final competition day. Its results determine the toa whakaihuwaka overall winner and the first-, second-, and third-place teams.

1. 1Te Matatinien.wikipedia.org
2. 2Te Matatini official websitetematatini.co.nz